"Most of the time, Nicklas Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne deserve the utmost respect.

They are two of the very best who ever played at their positions. They've done wonders in making the NHL a truly international league. If they ever retire, they'll quickly find a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

All that aside, though, why has the NHL allowed them to become bigger than the game? Or, more precisely, bigger than the All-Star Game?

In case you somehow missed it — perhaps lost in the shocking success of the Ottawa Senators, the end of Tebow-mania, the Liberal convention in Ottawa or the ugly drawn out race to find a new Republican leader — Lidstrom and Selanne won't be coming here for All-Star Game festivities in just more than a week."